Love Remains the Same
by LadyOfGlencairn
Summary: One-shot: My take on filling in the blanks in the final scene between Mick and Beth in 1x16 (Sonata).


Dear Readers,

I absolutely adored this show and I was completely devastated when it was cancelled so prematurely. I decided to write my take on what both Mick and Beth were going through in their final scene together at the end of "Sonata."

Perhaps I'll end up doing other scenes too. I'll see where it takes me.

Thanks for reading.

LadyG

* * *

Beth threw her iphone carelessly onto the table after taking a call from ADA Ben Talbot. It was late, but instead of climbing into bed, she was sitting in her apartment, dressed casually in sweat pants and a dark tank. Her favourite sweater was hanging slightly off her shoulders brushing against the ends of her long blonde hair.

Emma had escaped from police custody and no one knew where she was. Ben had sounded frustrated on the line, unable to understand how a simple transfer from the lockup facility to the jail could have gone so horribly wrong. He was also desperate to find those responsible.

After being barred from entering Mick's apartment earlier that evening, she knew that he and his fellow vampire friends had something to do with it. She didn't know what she was more upset about - the fact that they clearly had a hand in Emma's disappearance or the fact that she hadn't been included in the plan. If she'd been in a more rational state of mind, she would have admitted to it being the latter.

Sighing, she rubbed the heel of her hands against her eyes. She was tired. Drained. The last few days had taken their toll on her emotions. Meeting Jackson and Emma and discovering that their devotion to one another had lasted more than 150 years had changed something inside of her. It had given her hope. If two vampires could make it that far, who knew what she and Mick could accomplish together? Then she'd learnt of Emma's betrayal and suddenly that hope had come crashing down around her. One minute she'd convinced herself that love truly could last forever and the next she was forced to face the fact that even immortals were susceptible to betraying those they claimed to love most.

That moment and a bunch of smaller incidents before that had caused the doubts to set in. What made her and Mick different to Emma and Jackson? In their case, love had lead to betrayal. Did anyone ever recover from that? And what about Josef and Sara? Due an inexplicable fluke, he was being subjected to an eternity of waiting for something that was quite possibly never meant to be.

From the moment she'd met Mick, she'd sensed a connection between them that she couldn't understand or even begin to explain. She'd felt drawn to him, a desire to be closer, a need to know him. It hadn't mattered that she was involved with Josh at the time. It was as though her soul had recognized its twin and taken root, holding on at all costs.

Part of that cost had been Josh's life. Not literally. She didn't blame Mick for his death because he'd refused to turn him. She knew that Josh wouldn't have wanted that. After his death she'd pushed Mick away, telling herself that he was to blame when in reality, all she'd done was try to bury her own guilt at knowing that Josh was planning to propose and that she would most certainly have turned him down. She hadn't loved him as she should have, or been completely faithful to him. Meeting Mick had changed everything and in a way destroyed everything that had stood in the way of their being together.

Ultimately, what good had come from being in love with a vampire? Yes, it was heady and all consuming, passionate, intoxicating. But it was all those things only because that vampire was Mick St. John – her guardian angel. He looked at her and she didn't know night from day. He smiled at her and her world tilted on its axis. He kissed her and she couldn't breathe.

But on the opposite end of that spectrum was confusion, fear, insecurities and irrational jealousy. The latter was why she'd been crying for the past hour. In the last day she'd gone from being happily in love and cheerfully optimistic about her future with Mick to anxious about his true feelings for her and doubting her ability to ever fit into his world - to ever fully understand it. Perhaps she wasn't meant to.

Curled up on her sofa, she reached forward and grabbed a tissue from the coffee table before her, wiping miserably at the tear that trickled down her cheek. When she'd walked in on Mick feeding on Simone, she'd felt a kind of panic, as though her mind had finally caught up to what her heart refused to acknowledge.

She wasn't a part of his world.

Not really. They worked cases together, he told her about his past and about what it was like to be a vampire. He introduced her to his friends; they spent time together in a social setting. But there was a part of him that she knew nothing about. The part that she'd glimpsed when he'd had his fangs embedded in another woman's wrist. The scene was etched into her memory. They could never have a normal relationship. She'd once offered him her blood to save his life and in some naive way she'd believed that the intimate nature of that act had been reserved only for her. But that wasn't true. He needed blood to survive and it didn't really matter where or _who_ it came from. The last depressing thought finally snapped the tenuous hold she had on her emotions.

Drawing her knees up to her chest she wrapped her arms around them and sobbed silently.

The practical issues of dating a man who was technically dead meant having to be okay with, on occasion, sharing her blood with him if she didn't want him to share the experience with anyone else. While she was certain that she didn't want Mick turning to anyone else, was she ready for that next step? She didn't know. She only knew that seeing him with Simone had caused a wave of jealousy so intense it had lanced straight through her, piercing her to her core.

Mick said he didn't expect to feed off her and for the most part, she believed him. He had Guillermo at the morgue. But would he start to feel differently once they were together for a while? Resting her head against the back of the sofa she stared at the ceiling.

This was never going to work. She'd been a fool to think that she could fit into his world, or that he could fully embrace hers. They were literally like night and day. He was destined to live in the shadows, occasionally venturing into the light. She didn't know if that was enough for her.

There was a knock at the door.

It was Mick. She was certain of it. Getting off the sofa she pulled her black sweater over her shoulders and dabbed at her eyes once more.

She hadn't been wrong. He was standing there, looking at her, his grey eyes filled with concern. Despite her anger and hurt, her heart still leapt at the sight of him. Framing his perfect face, his brown hair was tousled and slightly too long, brushing against the back of his collar. He was dressed in his usual style – black jeans, cream Henley and a dark button-down coat. Everything about him was so familiar. She loved him. She would always love him. But sometimes love just wasn't enough.

"I assume your vampire business meant getting Emma out of jail. Where is she?"

* * *

Mick stared at the woman who'd haunted his dreams for the past 22 years. Her eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, a sure indication that she'd been crying. He'd hated sending her away earlier, but he hadn't wanted her involved in their plans. He hadn't wanted to place her in harm's way. Since the night he'd rescued her from his crazed ex-wife he'd never completely lost sight of her. He'd always been there, watching her from a safe distance, making sure that she was alright. Over time the temptation to reveal himself to her, to get to know her had been overwhelming but he'd crushed it down until that one night a few months ago. That night had changed his life. _She'd _changed his life.

"She's dead," he said calmly, his gaze never leaving hers. "She was a liability to our community."

Beth was angry and he didn't blame her. He knew it must be difficult for her to understand.

"Vampires dispensing vampire justice."

"There has to be rules, Beth," he countered.

"And Jackson?" she asked.

For the first time Mick looked away from her, saddened. "He didn't want to live without her." A sentiment he'd understood.

She stared at him in disbelief. "So they were both just executed?" He hated himself when her voice broke.

Mick remained silent, not knowing what he could possibly say that would make the situation any better. There was no way Emma could have continued to live after she'd threatened the entire vampire community. They'd always live in fear, wondering what would set her off next. It wasn't a risk that he or any of the other LA vampires were willing to take. Their very existence depended on the discretion of their kind and whoever threatened their anonymity had to be punished. They all knew the rules.

Beth whirled around, walking back into her apartment. He could hear her ragged breathing, the thumping of her very living heart. He could tell that she was close to tears. Following her inside, he fisted his hands at his sides to keep from reaching out to comfort her.

Softly he said, "I know that this is difficult for you to understand."

Her breath left her body on a shudder. She was going to cry. "Look, you've been saying for months now that things can't work between us." He stared at her, his jaw tightening; not wanting to hear what he knew was coming. "That we live in different worlds. And I didn't want to hear you, but maybe you were right."

She sniffed, a tear leaking out of the corner of her eye. His entire body trembled with emotion. If he'd had an actual heart, it would have broken in that moment. She was right. That was exactly what he'd been telling her since they'd met, since the moment he'd realised that she meant far more to him than she should. But hearing those words thrown back at him caused a pain so deep, it almost crippled him. He didn't know how to be without her, how he'd survived the last few years being satisfied with only seeing her from a distance. All he knew was that he couldn't go back. He didn't want to.

Her blue eyes were liquid pools of anguish. "You can't come back to my world and I'm not ready to join yours."

Mick was taken aback. "Wait. You think that that is what this is about?" he asked in disbelief. "You think that I'm going to want to turn you?"

"Wouldn't you?" she argued. "Eventually? What happens when I start to get old?"

He'd be lying if he said that he hadn't thought about that a million times. Worried that he'd never find a permanent cure, that even though he hated the idea, in time he'd consider it an option because he didn't want to be without her. But even as he'd thought it, his conscience had rejected the idea. He would never subject another person to the horror that Coraline had inflicted upon him. The truth was that he'd choose mortality in the blink of an eye, especially if it meant being able to grow old with Beth, to have a family with her.

Wanting to explain, he started, "Look-"

She wouldn't let him finish. "Maybe then I'd want it too. I don't ever want to have to make that decision. Emma and Jackson made me realize that you were right. I don't – think I can do this anymore."

He looked away, not seeing anything; his vision a blur. His mind was racing, his body trembling and overcome with feeling. He was an immortal trying to muddle through the difficulties of understanding human emotions. It had been such a long time since he'd felt the joys of newfound love and the debilitating fear of loss. He looked back at her, focussing. She seemed so fragile. Even after everything they'd been through, including Josh's death, he'd never seen her look this way before. Completely defeated.

Too choked up to say anything, his tortured gaze locked on hers. Pain. It was everywhere – inside him, around him, suffocating him. Eventually he did the only thing he could - he turned and walked away, every footstep harder than the one before. He stopped just outside her apartment door and leaned his forehead against the wall. His insides were a churning mass of anger, frustration and a numbing sense of loss. He heard her door close and the finality of the sound was more than he could bear. All the feelings he had for Beth came rushing to the surface, overpowering him, squeezing the hole where his heart used to be until he couldn't think above the roaring sound in his ears. He'd only loved once before in his 85 years and that had ended in bitterness and resentment. But loving Beth and losing her was more devastating than any pain Coraline had ever had inflicted. It had the power to bring him to his knees.

He heard her soft cries on the other side of the wall, and he knew he'd never be able to walk away. He'd spent the past 55 years closing the door on forever, but he couldn't anymore. He couldn't close the door on Beth.

Resolved, he turned back and knocked on her door. If he had to spend the rest of her life convincing her that they were meant to be together, then that's what he'd do. He knocked again.

Impatient to see her, he burst through the door and saw her standing not far from him, her back to the door.

Determined, he spoke up, "You want to know what Emma and Jackson made me realise? That _you_ were right. You were right all along." His voice raised slightly, his words spoken with the utmost conviction. "This isn't about being a vampire or a human. This is about _us_. What we feel about one other. Right here. Right now."

His words ended, his body straining, waiting for her to say something. _Anything _that would give him some measure of hope.

"The night that we first met. Or met again, whatever. What was I wearing?"

He frowned. She wanted to know what she was wearing? Despite his confusion he answered without hesitation. "Blue jeans, white striped shirt, cream jacket." He didn't know why, but the answer seemed important.

She turned around quickly, her eyes searching his. "What about my shoes?"

He smiled at the memory of her strolling through a fountain in the middle of the night. He'd never seen anything more beautiful. "You were barefoot."

Her breathe hitched. "How can you remember that?"

He could have lied and told her that vampires had a superior memory, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. The time for evading was over. There was no room left for fear. He was either taking a blind leap of faith or he was walking away and never turning back. In the end, the choice was simple.

Clearly, his voice filled with emotion, he said, "Because I love you." And he meant it. He loved her more than he'd ever loved anyone. Perhaps he'd always loved her, he just didn't know it.

He stared at her, impatiently waiting, his eyes desperately searching hers. And then he saw it. The relief, the emotion, the love.

She moved toward him and kissed him. Her lips soft pliable beneath his. He held her to him and poured everything he was into returning her embrace.

They faced many obstacles and it wouldn't always be smooth sailing. It didn't matter that a future between them seemed like the most unlikely thing imaginable. But they loved each other and they'd find a way to make it work. If vampires had souls, then his was telling him that they had every possible chance of making it. Being with Beth made him better; it made him want to _be_ better. The cure was out there and he vowed to find it. There was more to think about now, even more to live for.

There was Beth. And there was the dream of a family.

Happy for the first time in 55 years, he deepened their kiss and pushed the front door closed. He was finally home.

**THE END**


End file.
